Sexual Abuses: Pope Indicates a Solution, Writes Andrea Tornielli

Pope Francis indicates a solution in the fight against sexual abuses, wrote Andrea Tornielli, the new Editorial Director of the Dicastery for Communication, on January 3, 2019.

In an editorial published by “Vatican News,” he recalls the letter Pope Francis sent to the Bishops of the United States, gathered in retreat on this issue — a letter that offers a key of reading to understand his view on the crisis of abuses.”

The Pope “goes to the root of the problem indicating a solution,” says Tornielli. The “central node” of this message is the Pontiff’s advice not to rely too much on actions that seem “useful, good and necessary,” and even “just,” but which don’t have the “perfume of the Gospel, if they tend to reduce the response to the evil only to a problem of organization.”

Therefore, the Holy Father doesn’t want a Church transformed into a “human resources agency,” which “ puts its trust only in strategies, in organizational charts, in the best business practices , instead of trusting first of all in the presence of Him who has led her for 2000 years , in the saving strength of grace, in the silent and daily work of the Holy Spirit.”

Tornielli notes that for several years “the Pontiffs have introduced more adequate and more severe norms to fight against the phenomenon of abuses: other pointers will come form the collegial confrontation between the Bishops of the whole world united to Peter (in February, ndlr). However, the remedy could be ineffective if it’s not accompanied by a change in our state of spirit (metanoia), our way of praying, our relationship to power and money, our exercise of authority and the way in which we relate among ourselves and with the world around us.’”

“Credibility isn’t rebuilt by marketing strategies, concluded the Editorial Director. It can be the fruit of a Church that is able to go beyond the internal divisions and oppositions. A Church whose action springs from the fact that she reflects a light that isn’t hers but which is constantly given to her. A Church that doesn’t proclaim herself or knows bravery, a Church made of Pastors and faithful, who, as the Pope affirmed, acknowledge themselves sinners and invite to conversion because they themselves have experienced and experience forgiveness and mercy.”

I express my sorrow and closeness to the dear people of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, affected by Cyclone Idai. I entrust the many victims and their families to the mercy of God. #PrayForAfrica #cycloneIdai